The British Parliament passed a series of Acts for India. The Regulating Act of 1773 first put the East India Company under parliamentary control, creating a Governor-General of Bengal and a Supreme Court at Calcutta. Pitt's India Act (1784) tightened Parliament's control over the Company's political affairs. The Charter Acts (1793 to 1853) renewed the Company's charter and slowly ended its trade monopoly.
Key facts
- Regulating Act 1773: Governor of Bengal became Governor-General of Bengal (Warren Hastings first); Supreme Court at Fort William, Calcutta, in 1774 under Elijah Impey.
- Indian Councils Act 1909 (Morley-Minto): enlarged councils with elections through electoral colleges; Satyendra Sinha became the first Indian in the Viceroy's Executive Council.
- Government of India Act 1919 (Montagu-Chelmsford): a bicameral central legislature with a Legislative Assembly of 145 and a Council of State of 60; a ten-year review that led to the Simon Commission.
- Government of India Act 1935: provincial autonomy, an all-India federation that never came into being, Sindh and Orissa created, Burma separated; Nehru called it 'a machine with strong brakes but no engine'.
Why exams ask about it
Setters ask which Act introduced a feature (separate electorates, dyarchy, the Federal Court, Crown rule) or which Governor-General came first.
Pakka yaad trick
Three names, three reforms: Morley-Minto 1909, Montagu-Chelmsford 1919, and the big 1935 Act. The M-M pairs come first.